PHILADELPHIA – From the holdout to the early demotion and most recently the ill-fated comeback, Danny Watkins never got his career untracked.

The Eagles cut the eager but undersized guard, firefighter and good guy, who they selected with the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 draft.

“I think when you talk about Danny a change of scenery was necessary,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “The pressure of being a first-round pick in Philadelphia, how he internalized that, the way for him to get his career back on track is to go to a new place. And both I and Chip (Kelly) told him that today.

“He understood. Part of his personality, you talk about him being a firefighter, is that he feels like he has to help save people. He put a lot of pressure on himself and he couldn’t just go out and play. I think getting away from Danny Watkins the first round pick and just being Danny Watkins will really help him.”

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Eight other players were released to reach the 53-man limit. The list included tight end Clay Harbor, undrafted rookie offensive tackle Michael Bamiro, safety David Sims, wide receivers Russell Shepard and Greg Salas, linebackers Chris McCoy and Travis Long and running back Matthew Tucker. Kelly’s team is composed of 20 newcomers who weren’t on the Eagles’ roster last year.

The most notable survivor may be linebacker Casey Matthews, who played for Chip Kelly at Oregon.

“I think when you talk about Casey and you talk about the back of the roster guys, versatility’s a plus,” Roseman said. “He can play inside or outside, he has some experience with the kind of defensive system we’re going to be running from his days at Oregon. And he can play on special teams.”

Two more Ducks made the squad in safety Patrick Chung and wide receiver Jeff Maehl.

For whatever reason, Watkins (6-3, 310) couldn’t play. At least not on the level the Eagles projected. Though Watkins started 18 of 23 games in two years with the Birds, it’s basically impossible to identify his signature game.

It’s still not clear who was responsible for the Watkins pick, although sources said back in the day that offensive line coach Howard Mudd, not head coach Andy Reid, was sweet on the product of Baylor by way of Ketowna, British Columbia.

Roseman implied the personnel people who picked Watkins aren’t around anymore. Roseman said there has been sweeping change in personnel.

At the same time, Roseman inadvertently addressed his role in the scouting of Watkins.

“When you watched Danny play, the toughness, the hockey-playing aspect of him never translated to Philadelphia,” Roseman said. “And that’s one of the things I told him today was when you watched him at Baylor and when you watched him at the Senior Bowl, and when you met him he had this innate toughness about him. You felt like you were getting an enforcer. He never let himself go here, on that. I don’t know why. I told him that was part of the thing that I was most confused by because that was something that everyone at Baylor told you about and you saw on his play in the field. I think it all goes back to the pressure he put on himself here.”

Watkins, a volunteer fireman, was an early hit as he made the rounds visiting fire houses. With his emergency training, he even helped stabilize teammate defensive tackle Mike Patterson, who suffered a seizure during a training camp practice.

But Mudd soon fell out of love with Watkins.

Watkins’ starting job was taken away before the regular season opener, Reid offering his infamous explanation about how a guy sometimes has to take a step back before he can move forward.

Watkins never took that step forward. Consequently the Eagles are on the hook for $2.135 million in dead money.

Watkins’ tepid relationship with Mudd, the grizzled veteran who retired from football for good, couldn’t have helped the player’s development.

“I think he would tell you that nothing ever got off on the right foot,” Roseman said. “Whether it was coming to camp late, whether it was the lockout, whether it was just kind of him and Howard, their relationship … But at the end of the day in order for him to have success in this league we felt like he needed a fresh start.”

For the most part, the Eagles won’t shed any tears over these cuts.

Harbor wasn’t the same in-line blocker as Igwenagu, per Roseman, although the latter weighs 10 fewer pounds. Harbor’s versatility playing wide receiver or defensive end didn’t help, either.

The Eagles kept offensive lineman Dennis Kelly, who had lower back surgery in early August.

Though the Eagles hung on to cornerbacks Brandon Hughes and Curtis Marsh, who both underwent hand surgery, Roseman said the personnel staff would continue to look for help on the waiver wire, where the club is fourth in the claiming process, to upgrade the back of the roster.

“When Chip talked about the versatility at the back of the roster we didn’t want to duplicate a lot of skills,” Roseman said. “So that’s what made some of the choices at the back of roster. Maybe some guys who played well in the preseason but maybe they’re duplicating some of the skills of some of the guys that we had didn’t make sense to keep them or try to find guys that did some different things.”